ODA Committee
Writes To Elections Ontario Offering To Help With Post-Election Assessment
Of Barriers In The Election Process

October 27, 2003

SUMMARY

The ODA Committee
has received informal word that Elections Ontario is conducting some
sort of an assessment of barriers in the recent provincial election.
We have written to Elections Ontario to offer to help encourage people
to participate in this assessment, and to ask for specifics. See the
letter below.

Re: Ensuring A Barrier-Free
Provincial Election for Voters with Disabilities

I write on behalf
of the Ontarians with Disabilities Act Committee. We are a voluntary,
non-partisan, province-wide coalition of individuals and community organizations.
We have united to achieve a barrier-free Ontario for some 1.9 million
Ontarians with disabilities through the enactment and effective implementation
of a strong and effective Ontarians with Disabilities Act.

Recently we have
received word indirectly from within the community that Elections Ontario
is conducting some sort of post-election assessment of the 2003 provincial
election process, to see what sorts of barriers may have been encountered
by voters with disabilities. We very much commend Elections Ontario
for having taken steps to promote a barrier-free election, and for looking
into this issue afterwards to see what results were achieved.

To date, Elections
Ontario has not contacted the ODA Committee to get our input into its
post-election assessment. We gather that you have had some contact with
some of our many organizational members.

As you know, the
ODA Committee has led the charge over the past several years for a barrier-free
election process. We want to do what we can to help. For example, we
would like to circulate any questionnaire you might be using through
our wide email network, and to encourage as many people as possible
to participate. Please forward to me, preferably via email, any material
that we might circulate. We also strongly encourage you to ensure that
your outreach goes as far as possible beyond contacting community organizations,
to ensure that individuals with disabilities can have the opportunity
for direct input.

Through our ongoing
activities, we have already received some feedback about some barriers
encountered in the recent election. We want to be sure that you can
hear from people directly about these.

As but one personal
example, while the ballot this year was better for blind voters, like
me, than had been the case back in 1995, there is still room for considerable
improvement. I had no way to ensure that I had marked my ballot correctly,
so that it would not be spoiled. I had no way to check it after the
fact without asking another sighted person to check it for me. I of
course like other voters would like my vote to remain totally secret.
Speaking for myself, based on my personal experience alone, there is
room for still more to be done before the next provincial election or
by- elections. I am confident that other voters with disabilities will
have their own ideas and experience that they, too would wish to share
directly with you.

We thank you again
for your efforts to date at addressing election barriers. We look forward
to hearing from you at your convenience, and would be pleased to do
whatever we can to solicit feedback for you.